I did one of these. it was a lot of fun. Basically a tough 5k with some interesting obstacles. Every participant gets a belt with 3 flags and as you're running, there are zombies all over the place, trying to snatch them off your belt.

I can see why people get carried away with it, mostly because people are stupid.

I volunteered as a zombie once. It was by accident. I wanted to run the race, but my wife volunteered us as zombies to get cheaper tickets. She was a stumbler and I was a chaser--3.5 hours of sprinting after racers on a 90-degree, humid day with no water or snack breaks. I didn't bother to run the race after my Zombie shift.

Anyway, a woman stationed ahead of us on the course had three of her fingers sprained (one at a time, ouch) by overly aggressive runners. I watched four people twist or sprain their ankles and end their race on the narrow, muddy, and uneven stretch of course below me. The whole thing just struck me as a bad idea and I would not volunteer again or ever run one.

INeedAName:I did one of these. it was a lot of fun. Basically a tough 5k with some interesting obstacles. Every participant gets a belt with 3 flags and as you're running, there are zombies all over the place, trying to snatch them off your belt.

I can see why people get carried away with it, mostly because people are stupid.

Yeah, the Baltimore MD Run For Your Lives (1st in that series) was set up like that - waist flags instead of balloons. The rules are really strong about not hurting the zombies since they're not, you know, actually zombies, they're dressed-up volunteers. Too bad Denver had so many jerks. Lighten up Denver!

And the zombies don't run, the people do. There are hordes or clots of zombies along the way, especially at choke points. It's also an obstacle course, so there are lots of choke points. And mud. Red mud.

Fun fact: there is a phenomenon that volunteer zombies find distasteful called "junking". In Junking, a runner will wrap one of the flags between his legs so that zombies will be reluctant to touch his junk. I'm considering doing my next one in nothing but running shoes, a speedo and a coat of baby oil for this reason.

/run for your life is wicked cool, but wildly overpriced.//beware of imitators///lookin' at you, Harpers Ferry West Virginina.

...The volunteer zombies were really artistic, some of them. One guy was a "legless" zombie, so he lay on the cold October ground and scrabbled at the dirt. The ground was pretty torn up in his vicinity, so he had obviously been there for awhile. That's dedication!

I volunteered as a zombie once. It was by accident. I wanted to run the race, but my wife volunteered us as zombies to get cheaper tickets. She was a stumbler and I was a chaser--3.5 hours of sprinting after racers on a 90-degree, humid day with no water or snack breaks. I didn't bother to run the race after my Zombie shift.

Anyway, a woman stationed ahead of us on the course had three of her fingers sprained (one at a time, ouch) by overly aggressive runners. I watched four people twist or sprain their ankles and end their race on the narrow, muddy, and uneven stretch of course below me. The whole thing just struck me as a bad idea and I would not volunteer again or ever run one.

But it was worth it for the pictures.

[lh4.googleusercontent.com image 800x600]

/CSB

I was also a zombie volunteer - mostly fun but, like people have mentioned, some people take things too seriously (both runners and zombies). Also, for runners, if you think clustering your flags in your crotch area will discourage zombies from trying to take them, you're in for a bit of a shock.

CarnySaur:I was also a zombie volunteer - mostly fun but, like people have mentioned, some people take things too seriously (both runners and zombies). Also, for runners, if you think clustering your flags in your crotch area will discourage zombies from trying to take them, you're in for a bit of a shock.

Yeah, that only worked on me for the first half hour. Then I went extra aggressive against the crotch flaggers.

I don't think some runners quite realize that when you add what is essentially flag football to the course, running ceases to be a non-contact sport. Add to that the fact that some runners are ridiculously competitive and you're going to start seeing injuries as runners who are used to running in a bubble overreact.

tentaculistic:INeedAName: I did one of these. it was a lot of fun. Basically a tough 5k with some interesting obstacles. Every participant gets a belt with 3 flags and as you're running, there are zombies all over the place, trying to snatch them off your belt.

I can see why people get carried away with it, mostly because people are stupid.

Yeah, the Baltimore MD Run For Your Lives (1st in that series) was set up like that - waist flags instead of balloons. The rules are really strong about not hurting the zombies since they're not, you know, actually zombies, they're dressed-up volunteers. Too bad Denver had so many jerks. Lighten up Denver!

And the zombies don't run, the people do. There are hordes or clots of zombies along the way, especially at choke points. It's also an obstacle course, so there are lots of choke points. And mud. Red mud.

tentaculistic:INeedAName: I did one of these. it was a lot of fun. Basically a tough 5k with some interesting obstacles. Every participant gets a belt with 3 flags and as you're running, there are zombies all over the place, trying to snatch them off your belt.

I can see why people get carried away with it, mostly because people are stupid.

Yeah, the Baltimore MD Run For Your Lives (1st in that series) was set up like that - waist flags instead of balloons. The rules are really strong about not hurting the zombies since they're not, you know, actually zombies, they're dressed-up volunteers. Too bad Denver had so many jerks. Lighten up Denver!

And the zombies don't run, the people do. There are hordes or clots of zombies along the way, especially at choke points. It's also an obstacle course, so there are lots of choke points. And mud. Red mud.

The volunteer zombies

At the Run for Your Lives events, they have zombies that most definitely run. Actually, you have chase zombies and shuffler zombies, depending on what you sign up to be, and they mix them up throughout the course.

The first Run for Your Lives event I did, I dressed up as Ash from Army of Darkness, with the cloak, gauntlet, etc. but no boomstick. : ( Can't say that I was too happy about the dark, fogged-filled shock box, as I was zapped pretty good on my forehead while crawling on my hands and knees. Anyway, I made it to the last zombie zone with one flag left, unfortunately for me if was filled with a horde of young, fast zombies bouncing a soccer ball around. I didn't stand a chance as I was in a very small group and they zeroed in on me. Anyway, here's video I shot with my Countour camera, complete with music and sound bites from Army of Darkness for those of you with nothing better to do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH547BTL27o

The second Run for Your Lives event I did, I dressed as a zombie clown, and I was gonna chase people down relentlessly. They warn zombies and runners that they cannot be overly physical and aggressive, meaning no shoving, stiff-arming, etc. But you just knew you were gonna encounter some douchebags that took it too far. Those were easy to spot and the most fun to chase. I actually grabbed a guy's flag only to see that he had actually tied it to his belt. Really? People feel the need to cheat in a zombie fun race? Anyway, I made him un-tie the belt and hand it over. Not on my zombie watch baby!

All in all, they're fun races. I had a fun and will mostly likely do another.

I can see this happening. Runners are there to run, maybe be the first to cross the finish the line. Zombies are there to "kill you" and prevent you from successfully finishing the race.

I think it's totally weak of the runners to clobber women. I am sure they saw them and thought they'd get a little rough with an easy target. Shove a guy of comparable size to you and you might have a fist fight on your hands.

I'll cite two things to back up my claim. Remember the water balloon fight in NYC a few years ago? It was a flash mob event, and a woman squirted a guy who was there for the fun (or maybe not). He chased her down and threw a shoryuken up side her head. If a man would have squirted him, would he feel so ballsy?

The Stanford prison experiment and the blue-eyed/brown-eyed experiment. Maybe to some people it's easy to identify zombies as inhuman and therefore it's appropriate to throw an elbow in their face during a fun game.

I've seen it before, late hits, chin music, bonus balling. Some people can be complete a-holes when they're in the zone or just have an opportunity to be an a-hole.